| “Smart and Sustainable Living CoLAB: a roadmap to accelerate urban sustainability”Prof. Frederico Custódio, Director of the Intelligence and Explorative Research Group at CEiiA, Portugal |  |
Bio
Frederico Custódio heads the Intelligence and Explorative Research Group at CEiiA, a technology centre in Portugal, where he is responsible for the development of R&D programs related to Urban Sustainability. At CEiiA he also leads the Smart and Sustainable Living Collaborative Lab, a research platform that connects multiple research institutions and industry partners, focusing on the development of new technology solutions to accelerate the decarbonization of cities. He also collaborated with INTELI, a Think Tank in innovation, in programs related to electric mobility and social innovation.
Originally Frederico trained as a Polymer Engineer and received his PhD in Mechanical Engineering from Eindhoven Technology University, The Netherlands. He has done research for over 14 years in various fields related to Polymer and Materials Science. He was Principal Scientist at Sabic Polymers and later led the Polymer Physics group as Senior Manager at Sabic Innovative Plastics. He has also served as consultant for various companies on new technology and product development.
Abstract
Cities represent around 75% of global energy demand and total energy-related carbon emissions. But they also have a tremendous power to act on climate ambitions, through the definition of policies, the implementation of new solutions to foster sustainable mobility, energy-efficiency and renewable energy production. Recently, CEiiA, a technology center from Portugal, launched a new Collaborative Lab – the Smart and Sustainable Living CoLAB – which focuses on the development of new solutions to accelerate the transformation of cities into smart and sustainable ecosystems. The research agenda of the CoLAB goes beyond a technocratic conception of smart cities, to propose new human and living centred concepts, capable to meet sustainable goals. A particular focus is given to the development of new approaches to empower citizens to reduce their carbon footprint, thus accelerating the decarbonization of cities. Namely, the CoLAB recently presented at the New York Smart-Cities Summit the AYR Platform – a trading system for saved carbon emissions, which is based on a disruptive concept of ‘valuing what is not emitted’. The AYR platform, developed on blockchain technology, accounts on real time saved CO2 emissions from sustainable mobility services, rewarding users with digital credits – AYRs. Users can later buy products and services from a network of partners. The project is currently being piloted in the city of Matosinhos, Portugal.